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☆ Texas Legislature Bans Transgender Medical Care for Children
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( David Montgomery | J. David Goodman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

State police arrested two people amid protests as the bill was being discussed in the Texas House. Even before the legislation passed, Texas officials had taken steps to try to prevent transgender children from accessing medical transition care. Why It Matters: The largest state to ban transition care for minorsAt least 14 other states have enacted bans or restrictions on medical treatments for transgender children. community, nearly 30,000 transgender children between 13 and 17 live in Texas, making up about 1 percent of Texans in that age group. The bans are part of a national effort by Republican elected leaders to restrict medical care for transgender children, discussions on gender in schools, and drag performances.

☆ Gun-loving Texas, where most households own a firearm, has become an epicenter of mass shootings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Emma Tucker | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +23 min

CNN and the GVA define a mass shooting as a shooting that injures or kills four or more people, not including the shooter. They argue that more firearms and higher gun ownership increases public safety – a stance that continues to be at odds with gun violence experts and data. The area around the Robb Elementary School signs has become a memorial dedicated to the victims of the May 24 mass shooting. Mass shootings are just a piece of that, and the strategies that we’re laying out will impact mass shootings. They’ll also impact a lot of other types of gun violence and that’s absolutely critical to saving lives,” Horwitz said.

☆ Opinion: DeSantis’ comments about Jordan Neely’s death are part of a dangerous pattern
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Opinion Dean Obeidallah | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Editor’s note: Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio’s daily program “The Dean Obeidallah Show.” Follow him @DeanObeidallah@masto.ai. CNN —We are seeing an alarming pattern emerge in which some GOP leaders defend — and even pledge to pardon — people charged with or convicted of killing a person. “The unfortunate result was the unintended and unforeseen death of Mr. Neely.”Penny has received support from a score of right-wing figures. Instead, DeSantis is sending a message that if you are supported by the GOP base, we may have your back, even if you are charged in someone’s death. After Perry’s conviction, many on the right demanded GOP Texas Gov.

☆ Mexico asks Texas to halt costly cargo inspections; will file USMCA complaint
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MEXICO CITY, May 15 (Reuters) - Mexico's economy ministry is urging the U.S. state of Texas to remove inspections of cargo crossing the border, which it said in a statement on Monday is causing millions of dollars in losses for U.S. and Mexican firms. The Mexican government will file a complaint with the trade facilitation committee under the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) free trade agreement, which came into effect in 2020. Earlier this month, Texas started inspecting commercial vehicles crossing into the state from Mexico at a bridge connecting the Texas city of Brownsville with the Mexican city of Matamoros. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered similar inspections before. In April 2022, cargo inspections prompted significant supply chain disruptions until Abbott reached a deal with the governors of four neighboring Mexican states to increase security efforts.

CNN —A US Army sergeant who was convicted of murdering a protester at a Black Lives Matter rally in 2020 was sentenced to 25 years in prison Wednesday morning – even as Texas’ governor pushes to pardon him. In April, a Texas jury convicted Perry of murder but found him not guilty on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The governor can only pardon Perry if the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends it, according to Texas law. And in a June 1, 2020, social media comment, Perry compared the Black Lives Matter movement to “a zoo full of monkeys that are freaking out flinging their sh*t,” the documents show. CNN reached out to the governor’s office for comment on the social media posts.

☆ US Army sergeant sentenced to 25 years for Black Lives Matter protester's murder
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Daniel Perry was found guilty last month of shooting to death 28-year-old Garrett Foster, a U.S. Air Force veteran, at a Black Lives Matter rally in Austin, Texas. He said the state's "stand your ground" law justified Perry's actions and could not be "nullified by a jury or progressive district attorney," Abbott said at the time. Perry's defense lawyers said they were disappointed with the sentence, but would focus to appealing the case and cooperating with the state's pardon process. Jose Garza, the district attorney for Travis County, where the case was tried and where Austin is located, is a Democrat. The shooting came moments after Perry, who was driving for Uber, happened upon a group of protesters, including Foster, marching downtown.

☆ Texas Patrols Its Own Border, Pushing Legal Limits
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( J. David Goodman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

AUSTIN, Texas — Four C-130 military transport planes towered over the tarmac at Austin’s international airport, idling with the doors open as the sun rose over a news conference called by the Texas governor, Greg Abbott. As Mr. Abbott began speaking on Monday from a lectern emblazoned with the words “Securing the Border,” about 200 soldiers from the National Guard hustled onto the planes. “They will be deployed to hot spots along the border to intercept, to repel and to turn back migrants who are trying to enter Texas illegally,” the governor said, barely audible over the roar of the engines. For two years, Texas has engaged in a multibillion-dollar attempt to arrest and deter migrants who cross into the state from Mexico, deploying helicopters and drones, National Guard troops patrolling the border in camouflage and state troopers racing down highways in black-and-white SUVs. The state has bused thousands of migrants to East Coast cities like New York and lined the reedy banks of the Rio Grande with concertina wire.

☆ Daniel Perry, convicted of murder for shooting a protester at a Black Lives Matter rally, will be sentenced today
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Nouran Salahieh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A US Army sergeant convicted of murdering a protester at Black Lives Matter rally is set to be sentenced Tuesday morning – amid moves from Texas’ governor to pardon him. Perry’s legal team argued his actions were justified as self-defense, saying Foster had approached Perry’s car with an assault-style rifle and motioned for Perry to lower his window. The governor can only pardon Perry if the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends it, according to Texas law. Broden said Foster also made social media posts advocating for violence and supporting riots, most of which can’t be made public due to Texas discovery rules. CNN reached out to the governor’s office for comment on the social media posts.

☆ What is Title 42 and what happens next at the border?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Catherine E. Shoichet | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Here are answers to some key questions about Title 42, what’s happening on the ground and what could happen next. Migrants encountered under Title 42 have been either returned to their home countries or sent back into Mexico. What will happen at the border after Title 42 is lifted? Advocates say for many of those who were expelled under Title 42, the situation has been dire. The Title 42 border restrictions were controversial from the moment the Trump administration announced them.

Musk said Tesla aimed to finish construction of the factory next year and then reach full production about a year later. We need lithium," Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at the ceremony. Musk has urged entrepreneurs to enter the lithium refining business, saying it is like "minting money." The refinery is the latest expansion by Tesla into Texas after the company moved its headquarters there from California in 2021. "We are proud that he calls Texas home," Abbott said, saying Tesla and Musk are "Texas's economic juggernauts."

☆ Opinion | When Mass Shootings Become Almost Daily Events
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Greg Abbott issued a statement after a mass shooting, saying, “Our hearts are with the people of Allen, Texas, tonight during this unspeakable tragedy.”Time after time we hear about thoughts and prayers after mass killings. The assault weapon and large-capacity magazine ban was the law of the land from 1994 to 2004. Data shows that during that period there was a decrease in mass killings by weapons of war. The data also shows that since the expiration of the ban, there has been a significant increase in mass killings with assault weapons. Proponents of gun rights often comment that a good guy with a gun is how to stop a bad guy with a gun.

☆ President Biden says thoughts and prayers are 'not enough' and calls for 'assault weapons' ban following Texas mass shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Nine people were killed in a mass shooting near Dallas, Texas, on Saturday, including the gunman. He also called on Congress to ban "assault weapons and high-capacity magazines." The mass shooting at a mall near Dallas, Texas, on Saturday left nine people dead, including the gunman. "Once again I ask Congress to send me a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Biden and other Democrats have long called to ban "assault weapons," a divisive term in gun control debates as there isn't a universally accepted definition.

☆ Greg Abbott's gun law avoidance strategy in the aftermath of the Texas mall shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“I hear our governor talking about mental health issues,” Spainhouer said of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott during a Monday appearance on “CNN This Morning.”“We’re always going to have mental health issues. “Until we take some definite actions, we’re changing the narrative about it being just a mental health issue and start doing something about the guns,” he added. Texas ranks last on mental health accessIt was a major understatement for Abbott to say that Texas merely lags on mental health. A report from the nonprofit Mental Health America places the state at or near the bottom of multiple metrics for mental health care.

☆ Texas deploys special border force to drive back expected migrant surge
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Doina Chiacu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"They will be deployed to hot spots along the border to intercept to repel and to turn back migrants who are trying to enter Texas illegally," Abbott said at a news conference. The elite National Guard team will focus on any such surges that occur, identifying crossing points and shutting them down, he said. The Biden administration is sending 1,500 additional troops to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border this week. The government also will finalize by Thursday a new rule denying asylum to many migrants caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. Abbott said he would continue busing migrants from small Texas border towns to big cities like Chicago and New York.

☆ Texas Gov. Abbott is launching a 'Tactical Border Force' to patrol 'hot spots' where migrants cross
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Greg Abbott is deploying a "Texas Tactical Border Force" of hundreds of National Guard members. The Guard will patrol "hot spots" along the Texas border and force migrants to turn around. Abbott held a press conference to trash Biden's border policies as COVID-era border restrictions expire. Greg Abbott says the state's new "Tactical Border Force" will be patrolling "hot spots" to turn away undocumented immigrants. Abbott announced Monday that over 500 Texas National Guard members will be deployed to "intercept, to repel, and to turn back migrants who are trying to enter Texas illegally."

☆ Elon Musk and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott break ground on Tesla lithium refinery
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Tesla CEO Elon Musk joined Texas Governor Greg Abbott to break ground at the site of the electric vehicle maker's new lithium refinery in Corpus Christi on Monday. Musk said that Tesla is aiming to produce enough battery-grade lithium at the refinery to manufacture one million vehicles per year, and to produce more lithium than the rest of North America's refining capacity combined there. Mining company Albemarle announced plans to invest $1.3 billion in a new lithium processing facility in South Carolina in March. The company promised in its filings that "the process Tesla will use is innovative and designed to consume less hazardous reagents and create usable byproducts compared to the conventional process." On Monday, Musk claimed, "There's no toxic emissions or anything -- you could live right in the middle of the refinery and not suffer any ill effects."

☆ Texas tragedy: One weekend spotlights two distinctly American political fissures
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —The national season of violence deepened with a weekend of tragedy in Texas that hit two of the rawest political divides, guns and immigration. It was the latest in a string of mass shootings in Texas and across the country that have killed many innocent people but have brought no action to end the cycle of loss. Then, on Sunday, a driver slammed into a group of migrants waiting at a bus stop outside a shelter in the Texas border town of Brownsville. But as in the case of mass shootings, there is little chance that the nation’s polarized politics will ease in order to offer the space for meaningful resolution. The latest mass shooting in Texas came after a spree of such killings in schools, supermarkets, at community parades, a bank and places of worship nationwide.

☆ Texas mall shooting prompts Biden to renew call for gun control
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Maria Caspani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

REUTERS/Reuters TVMay 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday called on Congress to pass gun control bills in the wake of yet another mass shooting that left nine people dead, including the gunman, at a Texas mall on Saturday. The gunman killed eight people, including children, and wounded at least seven, before a police officer killed him, police said on Saturday. Some Twitter users said people and politicians needed to see videos like this one to grasp the magnitude and horrific nature of gun violence. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats stressed the need to pass stronger gun safety legislation to curtail gun violence. One unidentified eyewitness told local ABC affiliate WFAA TV that the gunman was "walking down the sidewalk just ... shooting his gun outside."

☆ New York Mayor Eric Adams to bus asylum seekers upstate, much like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bussed asylum seekers to New York City
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Eric Adams is sending asylum seekers in New York City to upstate New York, drawing criticism from local officials. Greg Abbott for sending migrants from Texas to New York City. In doing so, Adams appears to be passing asylum seekers off – just as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott did when he had migrants bussed from his state to New York, the Associated Press reported. In the last year, some 60,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City, the mayor's office said in Friday's press release.

WHAT IS TITLE 42? The COVID restrictions, known as Title 42, were first implemented under Republican then-President Donald Trump in March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. The Biden administration intends to lift Title 42 next Thursday when the U.S. COVID public health emergency ends. In April, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended some 183,000 migrants, according to preliminary data provided by Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a 13 percent increase from March. U.S. border cities are bracing for a possible rise in migrants when Title 42 ends.

☆ New York City’s Mayor Faults Joe Biden and Texas Governor on Immigration
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jimmy Vielkind | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Eric Adams expressed his dissatisfaction over federal immigration policy and decisions to send migrants to the city, at The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival. New York City Mayor Eric Adams criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for sending buses of migrants to the nation’s largest city, while also urging President Biden to get a handle on the southern border. Mr. Adams, a Democrat, said the influx of migrants has created a fiscal burden for the city that is affecting its ability to provide other services. The mayor faulted the Republican governor while speaking about his vision for the future of the city at The Wall Street Journal’s “Future of Everything” festival.

☆ Title 42: Why the Biden administration expects a surge at the US-Mexico border next week
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Migrant surge expectedThe surge of migrants is expected because Title 42, the Trump-era policy that allowed the government to quickly turn away certain migrants at the border during the Covid-19 pandemic, is expiring. These deployments are not unprecedented in recent years, but this one is notable since it coincides with an expected surge of border encounters. Biden administration’s plan to discourage border crossingsThe administration has tried to discourage migrants from simply crossing the border and promised that people apprehended will be turned away and potentially barred from reentry. Anger from New York’s mayorTexas has been transporting thousands of migrants to cities like New York, Chicago and Washington, DC. “Governor Abbott sent asylum seekers to NY – Black mayor; to Washington – Black mayor; to Houston – Black mayor; to Los Angeles – Black mayor; to Denver – Black mayor.

☆ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told Chicago's mayor he'll continue to bus migrants out of Texas 'until Biden secures the border'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Greg Abbott said in a letter he'd continue bussing migrants out of Texas to sanctuary cities. The letter came after Chicago's mayor pleaded with him to stop sending migrants to the midwestern city. Greg Abbott told Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot he'd continue to bus migrants out of Texas "until Biden secures the border." In his response to Lightfoot, Abbott told Lightfoot she "must call on the Biden Administration to do its job" and stop migrants from illegally crossing into the country. In her letter to Abbott, struck back and noted that she'll request the federal government withhold all FEMA funds from Texas if the buses of migrants continue arriving in Chicago.

☆ Fugitive Accused of Killing 5 in Texas Was Deported Several Times, Officials Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Jesus Jiménez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Credit... FBIAn official with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement said on Monday that an immigration judge had ordered I.C.E. to deport Mr. Oropesa to Mexico in March 2009. Mr. Oropesa illegally returned to the United States, and he was caught and removed several more times by I.C.E. and several Texas law enforcement agencies sought the fugitive, attention turned quickly to the immigration status of the suspect and his victims. officials did not immediately respond to an email about the immigration status of the victims who were killed, all of whom were from Honduras.

☆ Ex-federal judge Yeakel joins law firm King & Spalding in Austin
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Chinekwu Osakwe | Thomson Reuters | Chinekwu Osakwe Covers Legal Industry News With A Focus On Midsize Law Firms. Reach Her At Chinekwu.Osakwe Thomsonreuters.Com. | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

(Reuters) - A former federal judge in Austin, Texas, has joined King & Spalding's trials and global disputes practice group, the law firm said Monday. He said the governor's order violated federal law and would put children with disabilities at risk. Yeakel, who was appointed in 2003 by President George W. Bush and announced his retirement in March, will counsel clients on "all facets of the dispute process," and represent them in court, according to King & Spalding. Yeakel said in a statement King & Spalding has a strong dispute practice and a growing Austin office. Read more:King & Spalding hires ex-prosecutor in N.Y. amid investigations pushMaryland federal judge joins Gibson Dunn after leaving bench at 47Federal judge leaves Chicago bench for Latham law firmOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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